Oh the Fed, the Fed...Proving the Sun Shines When It Is Light Outside

This is an amazing piece of wasted wonkiness from: 

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF SAN FRANCISCO

Age Discrimination and the Great Recession

David Neumark and Patrick Button

The Great Recession led to large increases in unemployment rates and unemployment durations for workers of all ages, but durations rose far more for older workers than for younger workers. This difference was apparent both during and after the recession, fueling speculation that age discrimination played a role. Research indicates that in states with stronger age discrimination protections, older-worker unemployment durations increased more relative to increases for younger workers. This suggests that state age discrimination laws may need to be modified to strengthen protections during downturns. 

Conclusion and interpretationThese results provide very little evidence that stronger state age discrimination protections helped older workers weather the Great Recession. In fact, the opposite may have occurred, with older workers bearing more of the brunt of the Great Recession in states with stronger age discrimination protections.

Hiring older workers=increased risk, so hiring them will be a marginal decision. This consigns older workers (as well as any demographic group that could potentially pose increased risk) to the back of the bus. Just not new news.